How to Troubleshoot a Sunbeam Coffee Maker

Fix your Sunbeam coffee maker quickly so you can enjoy your coffee.

While it might seem like a minor issue, dealing with a stubborn coffee maker first thing in the morning can affect your entire day -- especially if you rely on that coffee for your daily jump start. If you have a Sunbeam coffee maker that isn't working, you can run through the list of common problems that the company has created to help you troubleshoot your appliance and avoid the cost of a repairman or a new machine.

Things You'll Need

• Coffee filter
• Ground coffee
• 4 cups white vinegar

Instructions

1. Check the power cord of your Sunbeam coffee maker to make sure that it is undamaged and plugged into a functioning electrical outlet if it will not turn on. You can try to plug the coffee maker into a different outlet to see if that fixes the problem.

2. Look through the clear plastic panel on the side of the coffee maker's water tank to make sure that it has water in it. The coffee maker will not begin brewing if the water tank is empty.

3. Open the coffee maker lid and position the removable filter basket in the center of the filter basket area. The filter basket must be level and will fit easily into this area. If the basket is tilted or improperly placed, the brewing cycle may not begin or the filter basket might overflow.

4. Place the carafe of the coffee maker completely onto the base. If the carafe is set on the base off-center, the brewing cycle may not start, or the coffee might spill onto the lid of the carafe and overflow onto your counter.

5. Open the coffee maker lid and make sure the filter baskets contains a coffee filter and ground coffee. If you forget to add the ground coffee, the coffee maker will only brew hot water.

6. Adjust the ratio of water to ground coffee if your coffee tastes bad. You can use more coffee for a stronger brew or less coffee for a lighter brew until you find the right combination for your personal tastes.

7. Clean your Sunbeam coffee maker if the coffee begins to taste bad but you haven't changed your normal ratio of ground coffee to water. You can wash the removable filter basket and carafe in hot, soapy water and pour 4 cups of white vinegar into the water reservoir of your coffee maker. Start the brewing cycle with no coffee grounds to allow the vinegar to clean the inside of the coffee maker. Rinse away the vinegar by running the brewing cycle twice with only clean, fresh water.

8. Check the removable filter basket to see if the filter has collapsed if you find coffee grounds in your brewed coffee. If the paper filters collapse often you can wet them before you place them inside the filter basket so that they will stick to the basket and stay in place.

Tips & Warnings

• Your Sunbeam coffee maker will pause during the brewing process for up to 30 seconds to allow you to pour a cup of coffee. If the carafe is removed for more than 30 seconds, it could cause coffee to spill out of the machine and make a mess. If this happens, turn off the coffee maker, allow the coffee maker to cool and clean up the spill before you start the brewing cycle again.

• Only use ground coffee intended for use in automatic drip coffee makers. Using a different type of coffee, such as instant, could result in unpleasant tasting coffee.

References

• Sunbeam: Coffeemaker Manual